NIPTO, Day 129

Hey all!

How are you doing?
I'm doing quite well. Somewhat tired. I woke up much earlier than anticipated this morning... so I went for a walk. It was misting. It was nice. It wasn't enough rain to get you wet, but it was enough that it cooled you down!

Okay. So it rained a little bit while I was walking. Then it was all bright and sunshiney, then it got all dark and cloudy like it was going to rain. Now it's all sunshiney again! [And lately the weather has been so bipolar and consequently so have I!]-Relient K High of 75

I'm listening to Oliver the Penguin right now. It's a band. They sound kind of like The Postal Service. I'm liking The Drop! Good music... Thanks ReleventMagazine!

You can read about VBS last night here. :) It was fun! There was fire involved. There's a video, And pictures too! Does that make it a multi-media post? (I think so =P)

(I feel like that was a very linky section. My apologies if you have been overwhelmed with links.)

Well. I guess I'll do NIPTO since I've kind of run out of things to talk about already since I posted about VBS last night... Well. If you want to see the pictures I've put up on facebook, you can go here!

I just read a somewhat shocking statistic: 600k iPhone 4g orders = 2.5 million Africans with clean water for life.
WOW. That puts things in perspective. This was posted on Twitter by Anne Jackson who is currently biking accross America for the Blood:Water Mission. You can go to that website to find out more about what they're doing. It's cool.

Alright! NIPTO:
Ephesians 3:14-21
14For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.

His suffering/the church's glory is the reason he kneels before the Father. God... His whole family's name is derived from Him.


16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

This is a fantastic 4 verses. It's a prayer for the Ephesians. A prayer for strength. A prayer for faith. A prayer for power. A prayer for knowledged. A prayer for fulfilled-ness... if that's even a word.
I love in verse 17 the part that says "being rooted and established in love." It's so fantastic. And it gives a mental image. A tree/plant that his its roots deep in the ground. In the same way that an old tree has its roots planted (no pun intended) in the ground, we should be firmly established in love.
I'm reading the Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne. There is so much about LOVE in that book. It's fantastic. You should read it. No, I'm not being paid to promote this book. I just like it. :)


20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

God is able to do so much more than all that we ask or can even imagine. And he can accomplish these things through us through his power that "is at work within us."
But we can't take any credit. To him be the glory in the church, through all generations, forever. And ever. A-MEN.


MY BIBLE JUST CAME!!!!!!!  SWEEEET. I'm excited to use it. It's an NASB/NIV parallel. I'll probably take pictures of it sometime. But I have to go! VBS pictures will be up on facebook tonight after VBS :)
Adios!

VBS day two- Magnesium

Hello blog readers! I am exhaustified! Day 2 at VBS is over. And I am tired. Kindergartners and 1st graders can be crazy. But they're also pretty good. They're definitely cute.

I got to start out the evening by sitting in a box. It was pretty fun. I got to listen as everyone came in and as Brandon came in. Then I got to make the box move... to "trick" him into thinking that it was "Johnny" (The boy who got to Captain K's spaceship initially). It was fun. It was bright when he took the box off of me though =P

After the opening stuff we stayed in the sanctuary and did our songs. We sang Blast Off, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, Jesus Loves Me, and a song that we had different parts. There was an "ooo" group, an "ahh" group, and a group that I don't remember what they said. But we did that until the end. It was pretty fun.

Then we went to snack. Trail-mix with purple kool-aid. We went around and said what our favorite toy was. (Mine was bubbles :) One of the girls said a naked barbie. I had to hide my laughter. We advised her to put clothes on it.

After snack was crafts! They made tambourines. Decorated them more precisely. (Those were transferred to the sanctuary to await our return!)
And then we had our "Discovery" time... aka science. Alex lit magnesium. It was cool. Since it was so cool, I took a video. And here it is!

Cool, huh? We're supposed to be like stars. It kind of looks like stars... We decided that we should be like magnesium. ;)(Hence the title of this post!) It was fun. We went over our Power Phrase for the day (I say: Our God is amazing! You say: Praise God!) aaaa lot in that class.

Then we went outside and played the star game. Basically taking balls (like ball-pit balls) and putting them in a big container in the center of a rectangle without getting tagged by the "Star Defenders."
Here are a couple pictures from that :)

Erin giving instructions

Ashley and Michael defending

Defending some more...

I'm in this pictures. Maroon shorts. Navy blue shirt. Yeah. That's me =P

After games we went upstairs for our reflection time. We told them to sit in a circle and everyone sat in a clump. It was not a circle. So we had to make a circle. See? Isn't it b-e-a-u-tiful?

Our circle. Me in the navy blue. To MY left: Landon, Aubrey, Bella, Lillianna (Lilli), Christy, Alex, Daniel, Alex.

Talking about what we learned today.

It was a fun day over all. I'm tired. Very tired. In fact, I'm going to go to bed now.

More VBS fun tomorrow!

NIPTO, Day 128

Hello all!

I am home from Day 1 of Urban Vision. I'm tired. But it was very fun!
When we got there Mom went over her reading stuff and got set up and stuff and Hannah and I went to the cafeteria to help with breakfast.
After that, I went upstairs to help with piano. For 4 periods. That's 100 minutes of piano! I helped Jayla and Heh Gay Moo and Too Dan Paw. All adorable :) And then I went upstairs (third floor!) to help Lauren with ballet!! It's so much fun! We get in a circle and stretch. Then we did review (positions, pliés, tendus, relevés) and then we practiced bourre´e.
And then we had a relevé contest to see who could stay in relevé the longest. I did NOT win. My calves were killing me. Crazy. I'm out of dance for a week and I feel so "out of shape" dance wise!
After ballet, we went down to lunch. Ate lunch. Went to the reading room and helped Mom set up for the next class. Had the next two classes and then we were DONE. Crazy. It was a fun day! I hope my schedule is the same next week. :)

Please tell me you're in the mood for some hip-hop music. Because I am. Group 1 Crew. Amazing. Christian hip-hop. FANtastic! You just want to danceeee! They sound like the Christian version of The Black Eyed Peas! It's great! I give you permission (unless you're my father ;) to dance!


Good music, eh? (Katie. HAH. I saw a moose today. Just kidding. Eh. =P)


Okay. NIPTO :)

Ephesians 3:7-13

7I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.

Interesting. Paul didn't become a servant by his own strength. He had the grace of God. I think that that's something that we possess that we forget about. I mean, sometimes we definitely don't forget about it, but sometimes we do.


8Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.

Man. Paul is humble. "I am less than the least of all God's people." Uhm. Crazy humble.
But he was given grace to be able to teach to the Gentiles about God's kingdom and riches. And to be able to make it clear to people that it wasn't him who was telling them this mystery. That it was God.


10His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God's intent was that his wisdom would be made known to those in charge of the "heavenly realms" which is in accordance with his eternal purposed that he accomplished in Jesus.


12In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

In and through Jesus, with faith, we can approach God freely. And with confidence. We don't have to be scared. Amazing...


13I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.

And now he's telling them to not be discouraged that he was suffering. His suffering was their glory.


And now I'm going to go get really nervous. I'm going to call Panera to talk to one of the managers and see if there's any chance that I'll get a job soon. *faints* Okay. Well, I'm not that nervous. But I'm still nervous. I get jumpy. And I don't like talking to people on the phone. MEH.
Okay. I might post something about VBS tonight when I get home. Or tomorrow morning. We'll see.
Hope you're having a good day!

Also, happy birthday to my DAD! He's wonderful. He's golfing right now. Maybe at Firestone Park. I'm not sure. But I'm sure he's having a blast :) Love you, daddy!

NIPTO, Day 127

Hey all!
Today seems like it's been mostly productive!
I went for a walk this morning. Prayed for a couple people... listened to music. It was good.
Came home and ate&showered and got ready for the day and stuff... finished my driving post... then read more of The Irresistible Revolution (Still fantastic!). And I read some blogs. And now I'm going to blog some more! (LATER) Or I'm going to eat lunch and read? I don't even remember what I did this afternoon. HORRIBLE. I did this post about Saturday night, I guess.

And I went to VBS. SOOOO much fun! I'm helping with the K-1 group. There are 3 girls and 3 boys. There are twins. A boy and a girl. Lets see if I can really remember everyone's names. Lilly, Bella, Audrey, Alex P, Alex B, Daniel. There. The only one I'm not completely sure about is Audrey. They're sweet. Adorable. So smart and funny. We had our opening "ceremony" annd then we went to our game station and played a "planet" game where the kids had to throw balls of different sizes into a big bucket. The girls won ;)
Then we had music (HURRAH for learning new mostly corny songs!). And then snack (crackers and cheese with grape kool-aid). And then craft (beaded cross necklaces). And then DISCOVERY (BUBBLES! They put water and dish soap together in a bucket and put helium air into the bucket. When you scooped them up and blew them, they FLOATED! It was so cool.

Now: Pictures! =)

The spaceships

Alex B with suds in his hair!

Singing at the end. With motions. (Notice the silver space-suit with helmet in the background!)

Captain K (not to be confused with Kirk) sans helmet

 There'll be more about VBS tomorrow night, I'm sure!

And just as a side note, I love my Owl City Pandora station. (And my Beauty and the Beast station!)

Ephesians 3:1-6

1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—

That reason is that we're a part of God's holy temple.
Paul points out that he is a prisoner. He is BOUND to Christ. He's not free. He is not his own. And it's not for himself. It's for the sake of others. Paul was kinda crazy ;)

2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, 3that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.

God gave Paul grace to pass on to the Ephesians. It's a mystery. About which he has already written briefly =P
More on that... now.


4In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets.

By reading this, these people were able to have insight and to understand the mystery of Christ. Other people didn't know about this. God didn't tell them about it. But God revealed it to Paul to reveal to these people. Facinating. What exactly is this mystery? Read on...


6This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

This mystery is that through the gosple, people who were not God's "chosen" people (the Jews) were heirs together with God's chosen people. They were all together. Members of one body. Sharing the promise in Christ Jesus.



Well. I'm going to go to bed. We have to get up early tomorrow morning for Urban Vision. It starts at 9. Or something like that ;) All I know is what time we have to leave!
Soooo. Good____ (insert your time of day!)

In a year from now...

how many of these things will have changed? How will they change? How much will they change?

"What are these 'things?'" you might ask.
These things are the answers to the question "Who am I?"

My mom is reading a book called What Color is Your Parachute? and there are exercises in it. (WCIYP? is a book about finding your ideal job... job market... and yeah.)
There are exercises about finding out what you're really passionate about and what kind of job would be your ideal job.
So on Saturday night, the four of us who are home sat down and did this exercise.
What you need: 10 pieces of paper (we used half sheets), a pen or pencil, and YOU.
At the top of each page write "Who am I?"
Then on each sheet write one answer to that question. Just one.
Once you've done that, go back over all of the sheets and expand on what you wrote. Look at each answer and write underneath it why you said that and what turns you on about that answer.
When you're finished with that go back over them and arrange them in order of priority. Which one is the most important to you? That page goes on top.
THEN go back through all of them and look at the answers to what turns you on about each one and see if there are any common words or themes throughout them. If there are, write them down on a separate sheet.

That's all my paraphrasing of What Color is Your Parachute? 2009 by Richard Nelson Bolles.

Ready to see what I wrote?
1. A Christ follower
2. A daughter/sister
3. A good listener
4. A friend
5. A student
6. A person who has a good sense of humor
7. A photographer
8. A blogger
9. A musician
10. A dancer

Now I'm going to go through and type out what I wrote under each thing :)

1. Being different. Being passionate about something as a teenager. Having something to work towards. Knowing that I can change myself with God's help.
2. Being part of a goofy, silly, loving family. Being loved unconditionally/loving unconditionally. Having "Yackley culture"/inside jokes. Laughing!
3. Knowing that people trust me. Helping people understand their feelings. Being a mediator of sorts.
4. Having fun with people that are similar to myself. Being goofy. Being able to share my thoughts and feelings with others without fear.
5. Learning new things. Seeing things from someone else's perspective. Sharing my own perspective. Being able to ask someone more knowledgeable than myself questions.
6. Getting a joke. Giving a joke. Laughing! Plays on words. Cleverness.
7. Colors. Focus. A good end result. Working with other people. Capturing what God has made. seeing things differently. Beauty in unexpected places. Sharing the pictures I take. Capturing emotions.
8. Sharing my thoughts through writing. Sharing Jesus through writing. Telling people about what makes me me. Sharing things that I love (Music, bands, pictures, other bloggers). Giving my opinion on stuff. Getting feedback from other people.
9. Music. Performing. Challenging myself. Learning new things. Bringing other people happiness/joy through music. Worshipping God through music.
10. Music. Movement. Grace. Pushing myself. Performing. Working with other people to make something beautiful.

You might've noticed that I underlined somewhat sporadically. Those are the words that stuck out. That were repeated.
I wrote down on a separate sheet of paper the things that stuck out to me. I'll write down that list for posterity too :)
Sharing my thoughts and feelings. Doing things with other people. doing things for other people. Laughing, being goofy and silly. Seeing things differently. Challenging myself. Learning new things. Beauty. Goals. Sharing.

After all that is said and done, he asks the question "What must my career use (and include) for me to be truly happy, useful, and effective?" This is what I wrote:
Something where I can share what I think and get feedback and different people's perspectives. Something that is challenging, but I can still set goals and meet them. Something where I'm constantly learning and doing things with and for other people. Something where I can be myself and laugh and be goofy. Something where I can share beautiful things.


That's about it! Feel free to do this exercise! It's fun. It's helpful. It was interesting to see what the rest of my family put. I'd love to see what Katie's results would be :) (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

Hope you're having a faaaaantastic day!